Sundry
by xxfatal
Summary: NejiTen. Moments in forever. Because with those eyes and those heights, they can see things others can't. A collection of pieces.
1. Sentimental

**A/N:** A NejiTen project, consisting of a series of unrelated (hopefully brief) vignettes. Because I'm a NeijTen fanatic, not so deep down. I don't know where this one came from. Really. 

**Disclaimer: **_Naruto_ belongs to Masashi Kishimoto, plain and simple. (I just happen to envy him.)

**Sentimental **

Hyuuga Neji did not appear to be one of sentimentality.

Tenten, on the other hand, reserved a considerable amount of thought to these fleeting frivolities. It was exemplified by the almost religious care she took to tending her personal arsenal; each blade and every steel had its own history. Sometimes, it could be expressed in the poignant smile dancing upon her lips, threatening to consume her in a torrent of emotion.

As for Lee? It seemed as if _anything_ triggered a bout of joyous sobbing from the expressive adolescent, or, at the very least, an exclamation of "youth!" Why, with Gai-sensei, he could summon a _waterfall_ (complete with crashing waves, seagulls, and sunset rays) if he wanted to.

Consequently, their differences did not go unnoticed. 

Lee once called Neji a rock. (He soon regretted it.)

But, perhaps, this Hyuuga was the most perceptive of all. (Although, Tenten often theorized it was superficiality of the Byukagan to suppose this.) 

He noticed, one day, when Tenten's eyes flickered to the side, lingering there on an inexpensive, unornamented trinket just beyond the small shop window.

He stopped, waiting for her to resume their usual cadence. "Tenten," he spoke. It was a question, but in such a tone that left room for doubt to those who were unacquainted with the often stoic, young Hyuuga.

Tenten's amber eyes left the reflective surface of the glass and shifted back to the road ahead, as if that moment had never existed. A flitting caprice, anyhow. "It's nothing," she answered, and continued to mosey down the sunny Konoha street. 

* * *

Tenten's house key clattered against the wooden table. Her mission pack fell with a sound thud to the smooth panels beneath her feet. She shut the door behind her, then cracked her back gratefully. Home.

Five minutes after getting comfortable, Tenten halted at her bedroom door. She gently pushed herself off the door frame, a can of fizzy orange juice in hand. Contemplatively, she padded to her worn cherrywood desk. Tenten set the beverage down and picked up the neatly-wrapped package atop her desk. With a ponderous quirk of the lips, she peeled the paper off and let it flutter to the ground.

Her lips curved up. It was a simple picture frame, the one she had taken note of a week ago. It wasn't classy, but it fit their team picture just fine. She propped up the gift by her bedside and made a mental note to thank the human ice-cube come morning.

Hyuuga Neji did not appear to be one of sentimentality.

But, well, he was.

_fin._

**A/N:** Any form of feedback is deeply appreciated. Thank you for reading. :) 


	2. Photosensitive

**Disclaimer: **If I owned Neji, Tenten, or anything at all related to the wonderful realm of _Naruto_, I'd be smirking from ear to ear right now (thinking of all the havoc I could wreak on those innocent pairings). But, I don't, and unfortunately, I'm not.

**Photosensitive**

She used to say whimsical things that made him want her to say more. She used to stare comfortably and unflinchingly into his fathomless depths and tell him they were beautiful. At some point, she had stopped saying this to him. He recalled asking why. She replied thoughtfully, without a smile on her face: "It doesn't hurt to see your eyes."

It was later—much later, he now regretted—that he saw her eyes. In girlhood, they sparkled like fresh amber and peeled oak. After she had said this thing to him, he looked into them again. He did not see what he used to.

It seemed everyday thereafter he'd scrutinize the pair of round, brown orbs. As the weeks progressed, he realized, bewildered, that the luster ran from them, was replaced by this dull aching throb and made her eyes almost unpleasant to look at. She never noticed him sneaking glances at her anymore, when as young teens, she'd tease him for such unwarranted behavior.

Once, after killing five men, Tenten sat by herself, gazing at the starry night sky. Neji approached her, after Lee had failed in initiating some sort of conversation. He sat without making a sound, delicately. Tenten glanced at him. In that brief moment of contact, he'd seen yearning and a rupture of pain.

His hand jerked beneath his robes. He wanted to touch her, to soothe her somehow, though he could not be certain what was wrong. "Tenten, we are worried."

Tenten jolted like a startled deer, as if she had never realized how many concerned glances and worried whispers were exchanged in her name. "I'm sorry, Neji," she apologized softly, sitting very still.

He wanted to know why.

"What's wrong, Tenten?" Neji asked after letting her calm.

"There is nothing wrong," she said with a tortured look.

"You are lying to me."

Her eyes dilated minutely, and then she gazed fully upon him—finally, after years of half-peeks and guarded expressions. "I still can't see it," she said. Before he could ask, Tenten answered, "You eyes are so beautiful, Neji." But it sounded wrong to him; she admired his eyes for the wrong reasons now. "I could never see it in Lee's," she admitted also, lowering her own shamefully.

Neji reached out with his hand to steady her. "What, Tenten?" he intoned with an undercurrent of urgency.

She laughed hollowly. "The missions hurt me, sometimes, Neji." She shrugged him off, and his hand fell limply to his side. "I can't see it when I look in your eyes," she added quietly.

Pain.

Neji slowly unfolded from his seat, comprehension dawning on him. He touched her hand. "Goodnight, Tenten."

* * *

In every mission that she took, she took something back with her. And this something was pain, ugly, and guilt; and it bled into her eyes. Everytime she watched her teammates, they would not contain this unique, multiplying tumor. Neji's Byakugan was always perfect and opal. Lee's kind eyes could never absorb the bleakness that littered the battlefield. It was only her. Their utter innocence insulted her.

She hated herself for it, and tried not to look into their eyes again.

She tried not to look into her own, either.

_fin._

**A/N:** New stylistic attempt? I'm not sure if it was effective or not. Feedback is greatly appreciated. Thank you for reading!


	3. Royalty I: Prince

**Disclaimer: **The world should know I don't own this.

**A/N: **_"You're royalty, right?"_ Three instances in which those words were used. Smarmy, little idea I had a while ago.

**Royalty I: Prince**

Tenten was watching him again. Her brown eyes were sparkling with something akin to cleverly-woven mischief, and they were watching him. Neji shifted irritably, trying to impress upon her the importance of silence and solitude during his meditation.

She traced a malformed star into the dirt with her left pointer finger, glancing up at the late afternoon sky idly. She shifted her gaze back to him, and that twinkle in her eye returned. "Hey, Neji."

If he ignored her, it would go away. She would come to realize that he did not appreciate being ogled at as if some common market trinket. Did she not realize he could read her infernal expression from behind his eyelids?

"Neji," she pressed, a pitch more forward.

". . . What?" Neji caved, knitting his brow, eyes decidedly closed.

Tenten grinned, laying it all down. "You're royalty, right?"

Neji blushed. (Jackpot.)

He snorted indignantly. "What are you talking about, Tenten?" Neji stood imperiously, brushing off his shorts.

"You're a Hyuuga, aren't you?"

He turned away from her. "I'm leaving."

"Okay," Tenten responded cheerfully, smugly relishing her perfectly predicted results. Neji had no words to say to that, so he obligingly walked off.

Tenten allowed herself to smirk. "He's royalty."

_To be continued.  
_

**A/N:** I know, I know! It's silly, but I couldn't resist. Posted over at the NejiTen LJ community some time ago, but finally got around to posting it here.


	4. Royalty II: Pauper

**Disclaimer: **This will be the second time tonight that I admit, embarrassingly, that _Naruto_ isn't mine.

**Royalty II: Pauper**

Tenten's nerves were set on edge. Her muscles were tensed beneath her clothes and she could not, for the life of her, resist gripping the blade tucked underneath her sleeve. She glanced sharply out of the corner of her eye, at pale, opaque eyes trained on the ground behind her. Neji was better suited to this mission. His blunders would be minimal; his composure indefectible.

But she was here, surrounded by people of unknown loyalties, with only him as back-up. It would have been enough, had she not doubted her own ablities.

Tenten dropped behind as inconspicuously as she could muster, looking to earn Neji's ear. Murmurs erupted from around her, agitating her alerted senses. _Wrong move_. Still, she remained composed, eyes cast to the ground. Her insides were a mess.

"Neji," she sibilated, "I might fail." She knew he heard, but he didn't dare immediately respond.

Just as Tenten surrendered her hope of a reply, his smooth, baritone voice ghosted into the air. He chose his words carefully. "Impossible." _That is not allowed._

With a start, Tenten registered the soft brush of his hand against her's as he stepped forward past her, poised with all the guise of a mere manservant. Nearly forgetting herself, her mouth parted to release more words of doubt. She stopped when he stopped, before a large, ornate door, just shy of inner palace rooms.

Bowing proper, he humbly drew the door open for her, only pausing once to meet her eyes with his own. "After all, you are royalty, are you not?" He was smirking.

The congregation of servants fell into step behind her, their mutterings now lost on her as the room came into view. Only Neji and the waiting princes espied the telltale flush of her cheeks as she stepped into their company, with all the airs of a pretend princess.

Her ruse would have been more successful had her thoughts not been occupied by a certain deceptive, pale-eyed attendant that day. But it all worked out according to plan, even though a Hyuuga Neji knew better than to flirt with her on a mission.

_To be continued._

**A/N:** I hope it's not too confusing. It's not supposed to be an assassination mission (what with Tenten's paranoid gripping of a blade and all), but just a simple deception mission, utilized for the purposes of writing this drabble.


End file.
